Weekly Non-Fiction Reading List 4.29.24
This week, we have 3 awesome books. We have the new Scott Galloway book and a great new memoir from a man who grew up in the foster care system and has a lot of interesting views on social class and status. Then, I re-read my favorite book on procrastination. enjoy!
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The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging, and Postponing, or, Getting Things Done by Putting Them Off by John Perry
This was my second read of the book. I currently have a bunch of personal projects I’m juggling along with a full-time job, and I always feel like I’m procrastinating with something. John Perry is a philosopher, and this is a great book that will help you feel a lot better about being a procrastinator. Something I overlooked on my first read was that John is very self-aware that procrastinating can be pretty bad, so he offers a lot of helpful tips to ensure we’re good procrastinators.
Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson
Rob Henderson is a great guy and one of my favorite thinkers when it comes to social class, so I was excited for this book to come out. This book is a memoir that documents Rob’s life where his mom was deported when he was 3, and he entered the foster system. With the odds stacked against him after a “troubled” childhood, Rob joined the military, went to Yale, and then on to Cambridge.
I’m not a major fan of memoirs, but Rob’s insights into social class along with his writing skills kept me engaged. Rob’s extremely open and honest throughout the book, and he does a lot of self-reflection throughout the book as well. He discusses how various points in his childhood made it difficult to grow attached to anyone, and he also talks about his struggles with addiction.
Although I didn’t grow up in the foster system, having a low-income troubled childhood myself made the book super relatable.
The one thing I know for sure is that this book made me want Rob to write a new book about social class and status-seeking. Toward the last part of the book, as Rob enters Yale, he has a lot of great commentary on social class and what he calls “luxury values”. Luxury values are values upper-class and wealthy people hold as a way to show their status, but they harm lower-class individuals. I could listen to him discuss class and status all day.
If I had one criticism of the book, it’d be that at times, it felt a little confused as to what it is. Was it a memoir that helps bring more awareness to the foster care system and the struggles of low-income youth? Or is it more of a social psychology book about social class and status? The first 75% of the book or so is 100% a memoir with some factoids and stats tossed in about underprivileged kids, but the last few chapters are primarily about class and status.
And listen, I get it. This is my main problem with my writing, so I understand the difficulty of discussing everything you want to discuss. If I had to guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if the publisher/editor wanted Rob to dedicate a chunk to class and status because that’s what he became publicly known for, so it may be no fault of his.
Overall, I loved the book and highly recommend people read it to better understand what millions of children are going through in our country. And lastly, I’m going to need Rob to hurry up and write a new book on class and status.
The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Financial Security by Scott Galloway
Unsurprisingly, Scott Galloway wrote another awesome book. I binged this book in a day. In my humble opinion, this book is a must-read for everyone in their 20s or 30s, but it’s extremely beneficial for people of all ages. Unlike many other personal finance books, this book has a lot of great life advice as well. Scott is filled with wisdom and experience, and this book teaches you about being smart with your money, saving, and investing. It also manages to explain some complex finance topics in an easy-to-understand way.
The only thing that threw me off is a recent interview clip with Scott' that went viral while promoting this book. In it, he discusses how younger generations have been screwed financially. There’s not really much about that in this book, which is fine. But also, I think it’s important for young people to understand we got the short end of the stick, but that doesn’t mean we get to make poor financial decisions. As Scott says multiple times in this book, there’s the world we wish we lived in and the world we actually live in.
This is a fantastic book, and it’s one I’m adding to my list of books to read with my son. Definitely check this one out if you want to learn about creating a life that has financial security.
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